Get Organized: How to Set Up a Family Computer

Make sure everyone in your family is getting what they need from the household computer by managing user accounts, enabling parental controls, and setting up remote access.

If you're going to share a home computer among several family members, you'll want to organize your PC or Mac so that everyone has the access they need, but also some sensible restrictions.

Additionally, you may want to set up remote access to a family member's computer that isn't right in your home—maybe that of a child who's gone off to college, or your less tech-savvy Uncle Buck—so you can help fix problems or show them the ropes any time, right on the person's screen.

Get organized by setting up your family's computer right. It can take as little as five minutes.

Transparency Parents setting up a family computer for children of any age need to explain clearly and thoroughly why those settings, restrictions, and other family rules are in place. Talking plainly and openly with the whole family must precede everything else. If you intend to track your children's computer use, it's only right that you tell them so and that the reason is their safety—not because you don't trust them. "The technology talk" should be ongoing, not a one-time event, but do be sure to open the conversation before anyone logs in.

Security Before setting up user accounts, be sure your Windows or Mac PC has basic security software installed. (If you already have security software, skip ahead to the next section.)

A lot of very good antivirus software is free (see "The Best Free Antivirus Software for 2012"). But you might want something more than basic antivirus protection, especially if children will be using the family computer.

PCMag's security specialist Neil J. Rubenking recommends AVG Family Safety ($19.99 per year for three licenses, 4.5 stars and our Editors' Choice). This Web-based tool lets parents check on kids' computer use from any Web-equipped device. You can set time limits for computer use that apply across all the family's computers, and AVG can block access to websites (based on categories that you select) via the home router. That means kids can't get around your parental controls by using other Internet-enabled devices, such as smartphones and game consoles.

For more advice about security software, be sure to read "How to Buy Security Software" and in particular the page called Parental Control and Monitoring.

Accounts and Logins The best way to keep a shared family computer organized is to give every user his or her own login. Additionally, I recommend setting up a "Guest" account, too, which visitors can use, but which also lets family members get onto the machine in a pinch if they forget their passwords.

The reason you want to have one account per person is so that the administrator (that's you, presumably) can manage the whole computer while preventing other people from making changes. It keeps each person's files separate, so your daughter's homework isn't stored anywhere near your business presentation or your toddler's artwork. No one can accidentally (or maliciously—siblings sometimes take out their aggression on each other in dark and underhanded ways) delete or alter another user's files.

Another reason to set up separate user accounts is to put restrictions on each user. These restrictions are similar to the ones you can get using AVG Family Safety (mentioned in the Security section, above), but aren't as wide-reaching. They only apply to the specific computer you're using. For each user, the administrator can limit access to system controls, Internet websites, total time spent on the computer, and people with whom the user can chat and email.

You can breeze through all these settings in a matter of minutes. It's extremely straightforward and simple to set up.

How to Create a New User Account: To create new user accounts and explore all these options in Windows, go to Control Panel and look for User Accounts. In Mac OS, go to System Preferences and look for Users & Groups. From there, just follow the prompts. In Mac OS, you'll have to go back to the System Preferences area to reach the Parental Controls section to set time limits, block websites, and create other restrictions. Windows 7 will ask if you want to use Windows Live Family Safety to set up the controls, in which case you'll have to connect to the Internet and login with a Windows Live ID (which could mean more time on your part), but you can still manage a lot of basic features right in the system, too, if you prefer.

Remote Access If you want to be able to help family members with their computer skills or troubleshoot problems without any awkward phone calls, you need to set up remote access. Remote access means you can take control of someone else's computer from your own computer.

Remote access tools are a dime a dozen. The one you choose will depend on • the operating systems of the machines you need to connect, and • whether you have an opportunity to set up the controls on both machines yourself or • whether you need to rely on the lesser experienced user to install the necessary components (some remote access methods are kinder on the less techy person than others).

Connect two Windows PC fairly easily using Microsoft's Remote Desktop. This option will probably work best if the more experienced user has an opportunity to set up remote access on both machines.

VNC (free) is a good option to connect computers running different operating systems, like Linux to Mac or Windows. Again, this method works best if the more experienced person can install the necessary components first.

Two other great options, especially if you didn't plan in advance and need to walk the lesser experienced person through installation and set up, are LogMeIn and TeamViewer. LogMeIn comes in both a free version and a paid version, called LogMeIn Pro (prices vary based on how many computers you hook up, 4 stars). TeamViewer is free. Both apps work across multiple operating systems, and they have mobile apps for iOS and Android, too.

Organization Pays Off Setting up a family computer the right way doesn't take long at all and pays off almost immediately. In just five to fifteen minutes, you really can put in place controls and settings that will fit the needs of each family member.

Jill Duffy is a contributing editor, specializing in productivity apps and software, as well as technologies for health and fitness. She writes the weekly Get Organized column, with tips on how to lead a better digital life. Her first book, Get Organized: How to Clean Up Your Messy Digital Life is available for Kindle, iPad, and other digital formats. She is also the creator and author of ProductivityReport.org.
Before joining PCMag.com, she was senior editor at the Association for Computing Machinery, a non-profit membership organization for...
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